Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is One Step Closer to Flying Humans to Space
Jul. 19, 2018Blue Origin, the space exploration and rocket company owned by Amazon CEOJeff Bezos, has completed what it is claiming to be the most critical launch test in the company’s history. Blue Origin, the company which aims to send humans to space using its popular crew capsule with large windows, has successfully tested the most challenging launch and the return of its crew capsule.
Having achieved success in this trial, the company islikely to put the rocket into operation by the end of this year. The flight to space could launch as soon as next year. The entire episode was shared using a live YouTube video which attracted nearly 20,000 viewers. You can also watch everything from nearly 35 minutes prior the lift-off to the time when the rocket and the capsule returned successfully to the ground using the video below.
This was the ninth time that theNew Shepard rocket boosterwas launched by Blue Origins and its third voyage outside the Earth’s atmosphere. Both thecapsule and the rocket are reusableand will compete against SpaceX’sFalcon 9rockets and Dragon capsule. This was also the highest (389,846 feet) the rocket had reached so far.
The current test was conducted with Blue Origin’s test dummy named Mannequin Skywalker who was strapped to the chair and was used to study the impact of gravity. The capsulealso carried experiments and payloads on behalf of NASAincluding one meant for testing Wi-Fi in space.
